


Water, Darkness and Beautiful Death

by Dazzledfirestar



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Established Relationship, Faeries - Freeform, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M, off panel unnamed character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 01:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazzledfirestar/pseuds/Dazzledfirestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They've adapted. They've had to. But sometimes, it's a welcome change to remember who they were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Water, Darkness and Beautiful Death

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this year's [trope_bingo card](http://dazzledfirestar.dreamwidth.org/141960.html). Prompt: AU: Fantasy. 
> 
> PLEASE NOTE, this is based on the traditional idea of the fae where they were perfectly willing to kill a person for the fun of it. None of these versions of these characters are doing that in present time, but they're ancient folks and there are references to these activities in this fic.

He preferred the park. He spent more time than he ever enjoyed among rock and metal and things that hadn’t existed even a fraction of a lifetime ago, but at least there was the park. He took a deep breath as he stood on the small bridge over a small man-made brook. Despite the city looming over the space, the air felt clear and crisp. It reminded him of other spaces, other times, other names he’d worn over his life. 

He couldn’t help the soft chuckle that left him a few minutes later. “Thousands of years and you still think you can sneak up on me.”

He melted out of the shadows with a warm smile on his face, his human face still in place and their third--beautiful and deadly as she was--at his side. They were striking, even posing as humans. Even as she reached up to brush the lingering shadows from her shoulder, she lost none of her poise as she walked forward. The shadows trailed back off of both of them like the remnants of a spider web before disappearing on a small breath of wind. “He’ll never stop trying. You know that.” She smiled as she walked toward him. Most people wouldn’t notice the smile but he’d had centuries to study the subtle shifts in her moods. “Just as he’ll never stop insisting on travelling like that.”

The chuckle that followed her was as dark as the shadows the man it belonged to controlled. They clung to him more stubbornly than his travelling companion. He seemed to trail them everywhere but in the dimming light around them, one could pass it off as a trick of the mind. It wasn’t, of course, but since when did that stop humans from being absolutely sure that what they’d seen was not real? “I think the humans might not take as kindly to your favored mode of transportation. This is easier.”

“And lower profile, Melinda.” Phil found himself smiling a little wider. It was a human name sort of evening. Maybe dinner at one of the many restaurants. Maybe some music. Nothing out of the ordinary.

She lifted one eyebrow and sighed. No more words were necessary. She knew he and Nicholas was right. The giant spiders were impressive and beautiful but subtlety was not their strong suit. She’d been less than impressed with the request to keep Anan and Ari off the Bus. Phil was honest in that he had no idea where one of them would fit, let alone both. Besides, they were enjoying themselves in Brazil anyway. They did enjoy the rain forest. He was sure that had been the only reason she’d agreed to the request.

She let go of some of the tension as she joined him in looking at the small brook. Nicolas… Nick rather, if he was insisting on human names—as he was and as was his right as the King—joined them a moment later. Nick took one of Phil’s hands in his own and rested them both on Melinda’s. “We’re supposed to be enjoying each other’s company. Not bickering about who can and can’t bring pets on your plane.”

“Then why the mask?” Phil looked up at the man and smiled wryly. He was feeling good, alive, fed in a way he only got when he got closer to home. Or his element. Or whatever the humans would call it these days. Water brought him peace and strength. It also made him bold.

“We’re still in their lands.” Melinda turned her hand over, lacing her fingers together with Phil’s and stroking Nick’s wrist with her thumb absently. Both of them watched as her free hand traced webbed patterns on the wood of the bridge.

“There’s no one around.”

“Did the brook tell you that?”

“Yes, actually.” Phil smiled again. There was a reason the term babbling brook always amused him. It was truer than most of their own people even thought. 

“Fucking water deities.” Nick chuckled and leaned in, kissing Phil’s temple fondly.

Phil sighed. “Not so much anymore.”

“It never really goes away.” Melinda lifted her brow again and stared at him. “We move away, we drift but nearer our source, we still have the power we always had.”

“Wise words.” Nick’s hand squeezed both of theirs. “Should we take some time? Take you home?”

“And risk the wrath of your Seelie second in command?” Phil laughed but it quickly died on his lips. He and Melinda had a mission and a charge. The girl—Skye—she wasn’t ready to deal with the Seelie on her own yet and Ward might just be stubborn enough to push her on that front. “The girl still needs to learn so much. Now isn’t the time to be running off to some deep, dark lake.”

“Your deep, dark lake.” Nick corrected.

Melinda shook her head. “No, our deep, dark lake.”

Phil nodded in acquiesce. How long had the three of them stayed there, playing with the locals, casting beautiful shapes and lights on the bottom of the lake? That was before they’d needed to hide what they were, to explain about anything. Before there was any sense of accountability or responsibility for the silly humans. Just Water, Darkness and Beautiful Death… He sighed wistfully. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the humans they looked after now but things had been simpler then. 

But he could picture it, even surrounded by the humans’ city he could see the soft glow of Melinda floating out on his lake, bare feet barely causing a ripple on the surface of the water. The swirl of color in Nick’s eyes—because he always said darkness was not the absence of color, just the columniation of all color coming together—as he stood on the banks and made Phil coax him out to join them. The feeling of the water covering and caressing as they sank and kissed and moved together. It was more than tempting to go back to that.

“Take off the patch and I’ll think about it.”

“Here?”

Melinda’s fingers slipped under the small band of fabric without a word and Nick’s eyes fell closed. Phil leaned in, pressing a kiss to his lips. “Here.”

He kept his eyes closed. “On one condition.”

“Name it.” Phil pulled Melinda closer, kissing her with the same soft sense of nostalgia he’d felt with Nick. “Anything.”

“When we go back…” He wrapped an arm around Melinda’s waist. “You’ll sing for us again.”

Phil smiled, leaning in, knowing the signs that they would be travelling soon through Nick’s shadows. “Alright.”

With that, Nick opened his eyes. One morphed slowly from the painfully human brown to its normal color, the other—the one under the patch—was its usual perfect swirl of purples, golds, silvers, greens. It was intoxicating, even for his fellow fae. It was beautiful and just what Phil needed. “Let’s go home.” Nick pressed a kiss to the top of Melinda’s head.

A moment later, they were gone.


End file.
